Launched in 2018, it is on a 7-year journey to the smallest planet in our Solar System. The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter probe, a cooperation with NASA, completed the flyby around Venus early Monday, using the planet’s gravity to help put it on a course to observe the Sun’s poles. “Without the flyby, we would not be able to reach our target planet,” said Elsa Montagnon, the spacecraft operations manager for BepiColombo. The measurements will add to those taken by the Japanese probe Akatsuki, which is already in orbit around Earth’s hotter neighbor. NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to send three more missions to Venus toward the end of the decade.

Source: Indian Express August 09, 2021 09:00 UTC